I've made this topic as we are going to be looking at revising the current guidelines as to what is defined as Anime relative to this site. The guidelines form the bases of what we approve as "Anime" and thus what is allowed as source footage in an AMV.

I will leave this thread up for the next 6 weeks or so to get feedback on the current guidelines and what we should change and or include.

PLEASE NOTE: Feedback should be of a constructive nature and give some explanation of reasoning and not be such as "Rules Such". This thread will be moderated to ensure feedback stays constructive.

UPDATE: Currently while we evaluate the definition criteria, we will be only confirming anime that is asked to be confirmed. If you have a video with new anime and want to upload it, ask us to confirm it in the Site Help Forum Area – Vlad

Vlad______________________________

CURRENT GUIDELINES:

Animated commercial media (TV, OVAs & Movies)

In order for a video source to be confirmed as anime at this site, the following must hold true: • Titles must be under the control of a Japanese company and be animated using traditional cell painting, CGI, or a combination of the two • Titles must have premiered in Japan prior to being shown elsewhere Examples: Cowboy Bebop, Mobile Suit Gundam, The Last Exile • Titles that are derivatives of a Japanese anime (that meet the above criteria) but may have been reworked for the North American Market. These must use the original animation and/or characters and story. Examples: Robotech, Battle of the Planets

All other animated Titles or non-animated Japanese titles shall be considered non-anime (any live action feature regardless of origin, animated features from any other country, etc). Animated features that are produced outside of Japan even though the a Japanese company may be doing the animation (like Cyber-Six that is produced by Canada & France, but animated in Japan) will not be considered anime unless it meets the above listed criteria. Examples: Spiderman, Thunderbirds, Simpsons, etc

Video Games

In order for a video game title to be accepted as anime, it must meet the following criteria: • Games must be made in Japan under the control of a Japanese company. • Games must be in the style and spirit of anime (not based on North American or other country icons). • The game may premiere outside of Japan so long as the above criteria is met. Examples: Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi, Final Fantasy 7, Kingdom Hearts, Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence, Resident Evil

Games are a very fuzzy and grey area as they are ever evolving, so for now the above criteria is what we’ll use and re-evaluate it as required.

There have been several other media types mentioned by others. In general the above is what is considered to be confirmed as anime, although other sources in the spirit of anime may be used such as original art or printed material (manga), in general these sources are not really anime themselves for the most part. Some of these grey areas we are still debating and will clarify in the near future. We are also looking at updating the rules on the video upload and catalog entry pages to reflect all the above and provide some examples to clarify it to everyone.

For names (and confirmation in general) we were thinking about going for this:

Check ANN/AniDB (depending on what the users would prefer, you tell us ─ I'd personally go for aniDB, but ANN makes it easier to decide when to use the English title*) and use the main title there for the entry. For videogames it's probably about deciding between IGN/Gamespot or something along those, although for visual novels we might have to use vndb or perhaps getchu since vndb's database is somewhat limited;

If that fails (no entry on either), try to look for the show's/game's official site(s) to decide;

Failing still, look for wiki entry;

If nothing's found, contact user. We might also be making a thread to ask about titles, in case other users in the community can help find information.

If no relevant info is found within X months (2 perhaps, but should be discussed), then confirm as not anime.

*The English title is a somewhat difficult issue on AniDB: for instance tatami galaxy is listed as "Yojouhan Shinwa Taikei" as the only main title and "The Tatami Galaxy" is only an alternative title. But as it is licensed by Funimation with the latter title, I decided to add it to the database as "Tatami Galaxy, The (TV)" and ANN does list it with The Tatami Galaxy as main title.

* I am for ANiDB. For one, I never understood using US titles when we're international site. Sure, we speak English mostly, but I don't insist on entering "Cesta do fantazie" as an alias to Sen to Chihiro (Spirited Away)... I think we should use original titles where possible, that causes the least confusion, because they are there first and they are there always - I think that change of original title is a rare thing that happens once in years.* IGN/Gamespot is fine. VNDB, based on my current insight, consists of approx. 8500 releases, which is over 2/3rds of getchu state - and is easier to search for non-Japanese reading people and still growing to those 12k releases getchu has. I wouldn't be against (with getchu as a backup), as most of the missing stuff are those rare things.

Mmmh... we should probably make a poll of its own for the English title thing. I don't have the rights to make polls and I don't know if Vlad does either, though. When the site was made, the English title rule was there so people could recognize the licensed titles easily, AFAIK, but much has changed since then: the aliasing system is more reliable since now there is the confirmation of titles, and the userbase has expanded a lot more outside of the US area (I think the active editors atm are rather evenly split between the US and rest of the world), so it would make sense to get back to Japanese main titles showing. The exceptions would probably be for the third point of the "Animated commercial media" guidelines ("Titles that are derivatives of a Japanese anime (that meet the above criteria) but may have been reworked for the North American Market. These must use the original animation and/or characters and story. Examples: Robotech, Battle of the Planets").

I know I would be confused as all hell if suddenly the catalog only reflected Japanese names. Some newer stuff, sure, I'd know that, but given that the way I was introduced to anime was through TV, theaters and DVD stores where it's almost always in English, I wouldn't know sooo many titles. Perhaps there is an alternate way. English name in parenthesis? Japanese name in parenthesis? Because going fullblown only-Japanese is a bit much.

I've never heard of Sen to Chihiro....but Spirited Away was one of the first anime movies I had ever seen....

I know that the naming convention is another entire issue that we can discuss and we probably will, however I would like this thread to stay focused on what defines Anime for this site.

We can set up a poll and feedback thread for naming conventions a bit later as I see that as stage two. For now the naming convention of English as primary remains untill such time as a overhaul of all titles would be considered if there is a change to the naming (which has not been ruled out yet)

The only thing I have a problem with are the exceptions given to original animation. It's in direct conflict with the rules you have written out and provides slippery-slope style arguments to let anything else in.

Ileia wrote:I know I would be confused as all hell if suddenly the catalog only reflected Japanese names. Some newer stuff, sure, I'd know that, but given that the way I was introduced to anime was through TV, theaters and DVD stores where it's almost always in English, I wouldn't know sooo many titles. Perhaps there is an alternate way. English name in parenthesis? Japanese name in parenthesis? Because going fullblown only-Japanese is a bit much.

I've never heard of Sen to Chihiro....but Spirited Away was one of the first anime movies I had ever seen....

http://anidb.net/perl-bin/animedb.pl?show=anime&aid=112Though, have you ever looked at original titles? half of them is in English anyways. It's more of a bother nowadays that you watch the original anime (which isn't translated) and then the licensor whips out totally stupid name (see: Toradora!). I agree that for the older anime there could be some aliases, that's what we have them for \o/

Meh, I think it would be cool if this site just opened up to all animation in general and wasn't so concerned about it coming specifically from japan, though it will probably never happen.

"The people cannot be [...] always, well informed. The part which is wrong will be discontented, in proportion to [...] the facts they misconceive. If they remain quiet under such misconceptions, it is lethargy, the forerunner of death to public liberty. What country can preserve its liberties, if it's rulers are not warned [...] that this people preserve the spirit of resistance? The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time, with the blood of patriots and tyrants."-Thomas Jefferson

EvaFan wrote:Meh, I think it would be cool if this site just opened up to all animation in general and wasn't so concerned about it coming specifically from japan, though it will probably never happen.

The problem with that is it would open the floodgates for anyone posting anything that looks like animation and as we take donations from people here we would be using those funds to support anything outside the scope of Anime. After all this is site is "Anime Music Videos" and not Animation Music Videos

What revisions are you guys considering anyway? Mostly the rules are fine as is, although perhaps expanding them a bit to include anime inspired things like Avatar or Teen Titans wouldn't be out of line.